


Author. 




Book. 



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Title 



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16—30299-1 GPO 



A 



DESCRIPTIVE READING 



ON 



EGYPT 



ILLUSTRATED BY FIFTY LANTERN 
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WILLIAM H. RAU 

PHILADELPHIA 
1890 




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Copyright, i8go, by Williatn H. Rau. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. Port Said and the Entrance to the Suez Canal, 

2. The Suez Canal. 

3. Harbor of Alexandria. 

4. Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria. 

5. Mahmoudieh Canal. 

6. A Street in Cairo. 

7. Shoubra Palace. 

8. Interior of an Arabic Palace, Cairo. 

9. Masharabeah — Lattice Window. 

10. Fountain of Ablution — Mosque of Hassan. 

11. Bazaar of Antiques, Cairo. 

12. Interior of Gezeereh Palace, Cairo. 

13. Citadel and Mosque of Mohamed Ali. 

14. Arab Cemetery in the Desert. 

15. Tombs of the Caliphs, Cairo. 

16. Water Carriers. 

17. Ra-em-ke — Oldest Wooden Statue. ";) 

18. Mummy of Rameses II. 

19. The Mahmal Leaving for Mecca. 

20. Group of Great Pyramids. 

:2i. Temple Sphynx and Great Pyramid. 

22. The Sphynx Excavated. 

23. Pyramid of Sakkarah. 

24. Siout from the Nile. 

25. Colonnade, Temple of Denderah. 

26. Trading Boat on the Nile. 

27. The Grand Temple, Luxor. 

28. General View of Luxor. 

29. A Mummy Dealer. 

30. Avenue of Sphynxes and Propylon, Karnak. 

31. The Great Hall of Columns, Karnak. 

32. General View of the Great Temple, Karnak. 

33. The Colossi — Thebes. 



47^ ILLUSTRATIONS. 

34. Great Court, Medinet Aboo. 

35. The Rameseum Grand Hall, Thebes. 

36. Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. 

37. Pylons of the Temple, Edfoo. 

38. The Harbor of Assouan. 

39. First Cataract of the Nile. 

40. Philae from the Cataract. 

41. The Ruins of Philae. 

42. Ruins of the Mosque Mischod, 

43. Shadoof and Sakkieh. 

44. Gertasse. 

45. Nubian Boy Riding Buffalo. 

46. Kirscheh. 

47. Temple and Desert, Wady Saboah. 

48. Great Temple, Aboo Simbel. 

49. Interior of Great Temple. 

50. Second Cataract of the Nile. 



EGYPT. 



Egypt ! What memories sweep o'er us at the 
mention of that name ! Before the mature mind 
grasps the magnitude of the wonders it recalls, the 
child-mind passes back to the days when its first 
interest centered in the infant Moses, saved from the 
wrath of the wicked Pharaoh ; in Joseph, made 
second in power in the kingdom; the death of the 
first-born and the bondage and escape of the people 
of Israel. And thus, before the interest of the stu- 
dent-mind is enlisted, that of the child is caught by 
the wonder of its story. And can we doubt that a 
land that has laid its charm upon us when children 
will lose its hold on us now ? A land whose age is 
not counted by years or even hundreds of years, but 
by thousands, — until we are lost in antiquity ; the first 
cradle of the human race, the oldest theatre in which 
the great drama of life was played. Here the arts 
and sciences had birth, and literature and religion 
sprang into existence. Her schools of learning 
flourished before Greece had breathed, or Rome been 
even dreamed of, and her architectural achievements 
are to-day the wonder of the civilized world. 

1. Port Said and the f^ntrance to the Suez 
Canal. — From the mouth of the Damietta branch of 
the Nile to the Gulf of Pelusium there stretches a 

(47T) 



478 EGYPT. 

low belt of sand, varying in width from two hundred 
to three hundred yards, and serving to separate the 
Mediterranean from the waters of Lake Menzaleh, 
though often, when the lake is full and the waves of 
the Mediterranean are high, the two meet across this 
slight boundary line. In the beginning of the month 
of April, 1859, a small body of men, the pioneers of 
the Suez Canal landed at that spot of this narrow 
sandy slip, which had been chosen as the starting 
point of the canal from the Mediterranean, and the 
site of the city and port intended ultimately to rival 
Alexandria. It owed its selection not to its being 
the spot from which the shortest line across the 
Isthmus could be drawn, but to its being that point 
of the coast to which deep water approached the 
nearest. This spot was called Port Said, in honor of 
the Viceroy. 

The first thing to be done was to make the ground 
on which to build the future town. This was done 
by dredging in the shallows of the lake, close to the 
belt of sand ; the same operation serving at once to 
form an inner port, and to extend the area and raise 
the height of the dry land. When the native labor- 
ers were withdrawn and recourse had to machinery, 
great impetus was given to Port Said. It soon be- 
came, perhaps, the largest workshop in the world. 

Thus sprang up in a few years, on a site most 
disadvantageous, a town of nearly ten thousand 
inhabitants, regularly laid out in streets and squares, 
with docks, quays, churches, hospitals, mosques, 
hotels, and all the adjuncts of a sea-port, and with 
the most easily-approached and safest harbor along 
the coast. 



EGYPT. 479 

2, The Suez Canal. — Notwithstanding the at- 
tempts before made, it was reserved to our century, 
with its enormous technical resources, to solve the 
problem of joining the Mediterranean to the Red Sea 
in a way which wholly excludes any further fear of its 
being closed by neglect or the action of the elements. 
A Frenchman of genius and determination, Monsieur 
de Lesseps, during the tedium of a quarantine, read 
an essay by La Pere, which led to his forming the 
resolution so pregnant with results to the whole com- 
mercial world, to attempt to cut through the Isthmus 
of Suez. 

On the 25th of April, 1859, Monsieur de Lesseps, 
surrounded by ten or fifteen Europeans, and some 
one hundred native workmen, gave the first 'stroke 
of the spade to the future highway between the Med- 
iterranean and the Red Sea. Hard indeed must have 
been the life of the first workers on this desolate 
slip of land, and the powers of endurance of the 
little band were often sorely tried. All the world 
knows how the plan succeeded, but the enormous 
difficulties which had to be overcome are not so well 
known, nor how the Pacha from the first supported 
the scheme, and how intelligently and devotedly he 
was seconded by the Khedive. In 1868, in spite of 
the opposition of English statesmen, and the distrust 
of the whole European world of finance, the canal 
was so far completed that steamships of moderate 
size could pass through it, and the Viceroy Ismail 
held a festival of inauguration, which exceeded in 
splendor everything in the way of hospitality and 
entertainment that had been seen within the past 
century. Besides princes and grandees he bade the 



48o EGYPT. 

representatives of the press from all parts of the 
globe as his guests, and in the course of a few days, 
as if by magic, the attention of every man, near and 
far, great and small, was centered on the Suez Canal. 
At the present day a constantly-increasing number 
of ships of every nation incessantly navigate it, and 
the maintenance of this great monument of enter- 
prise and skill is absolutely secure. 

3. Harbor of Alexandria. — From whichever side 
it is approached the coast of Egypt is exceedingly 
low. There is nothing at all remarkable in the view 
of Alexandria from the sea ; the town looks like a 
long horizontal streak of whitewash, mingled with 
brown, and crossed perpendicularly with the sharp 
line of ships' masts, but she occupies a strong position 
and posesses great commercial advantages. No sit- 
uation could be more commanding, few harbors are 
more secure and capacious, and thousands of ships 
ride upon her blue waters. As you enter the harbor on 
the right are the island and tower of Pharos ; on the 
left are rocks and the promontory of Lochias, where 
the palace stands ; one of the most prominent 
objects is the new lighthouse on the point of Eunos- 
tus, in which is a revolving light, visible at a distance 
of twenty miles. 

As soon as the steamer anchors in the harbor it is 
surrounded by numbers of boats, rowed by men of all 
colors save white, and dressed some in the Greek and 
some in the Turkish ostume, calling out in gutteral 
Arabic and broken English and Italian for passen- 
gers. It is in these boats that the traveler obtains 
his first experience of the ways of the natives ; mid- 
way between the vessel and the shore they will stop 



EGYPT. 48 1 

rowing, make an exorbitant charge, and demand 
immediate payment. Talk is useless, but a peremp- 
tory order and a threatened blow will cause them 
to sink down in submission and row steadily to 
shore, where they will gratefully accept about one- 
third the amount they attempted to extort. 

4. Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria. — There is little 
in the present city to remind us of the ancient glory 
of Alexandria — so illustrous as the seat of learning. 
To-day a city of extremes and contrasts. Deluged in 
winter by rain, and at times even pinched by cold, it 
is annually scorched for five months by a fierce sun, 
dusted by desert sand, and parched by drought. A 
cosmopolitan city of French houses, Italian villas, 
Turkish latticed-windowed buildings, and native mud 
hovels ; a city where every tongue is commonly 
spoken, and every coin is in current circulation. 

The most striking monumental relic of Alexandria 
is the column erroneously called "Pompey's Pillar." 
It stands upon an eminence which was probably the 
highest ground of the ancient city, and commands 
an interesting view of Lake Mareotis and the modern 
city. The column is nearly one hundred feet in 
height, the shaft (of a single granite block) being 
seventy-three feet, and the lofty pedestal occupying 
the rest of the height. The substructions were once 
under the level of the ground, and formed part of a 
paved area ; the stones of which have been removed, 
leaving only those beneath the column itself, to the 
great risk of the monument. 

Much controversy has been occasioned by the 
name given this pillar ; some have supposed that this 
was one of the four hundred columns that belonged 



482 EGYPT. 

to the great library; others have derived it from 
Pompaios, as having served for a landmark, and 
others endeavored to read in- the inscription the name 
of Pompey. It is now proven that it was erected by 
Publius, the Prefect of Egypt, in honor of the Roman 
emperor, Diocletian. 

5, Mabmoudieh Canal.— Traveling from Alex- 
andria to Cairo, most of the journey is made in a 
small steamboat on the far-famed Mahmoudieh Canal. 
The right bank of the canal is bordered for some 
distance with the houses and gardens of the wealthy 
inhabitants of Alexandria, and is the fashionable 
afternoon promenade. Many of the gardens are well 
worth seeing for the beauty and luxuriance of the 
shrubs and flowers. 

As the canal runs through the Delta it is elevated 
by banks above the surrounding country, and one 
can see in every direction Arab villages, like so 
many square or circular mud heaps, rising upon 
every mound, and secured by walls of earth against 
the annual incursions of the Nile. 

The canal is about seventy miles in length, and, 
connecting Alexandria with a branch of the Nile, 
makes the water communication with Cairo perfect. 
In the greatness and cruelty of its accomplishment 
this canal may vie with the gigantic labors of the 
Pharaohs. Two hundred and fifty thousand people, 
men, women and children, were swept from the vil- 
lages of the Delta and heaped like a ridge along the 
destined banks of that fatal canal. They had pro- 
visions for only one month, and implements they had 
few or none ; but the Pasha's command was urgent, — 
the men worked with all the energy of despair, and 



EGYPT. 485 

stabbed into the ground as if it were their enemy ; 
children carried away the soil in little handfuls, 
nothers laid their infants on the shelterless banks, 
the scourge kept all to work. Famine soon made its 
appearance, and it was a fearful sight to see that 
great multitude convulsively working against time ; 
as a dying horse bites the ground in its agony, they 
tore up that great grave. Twenty-five thousand 
people perished, but the given contract was com- 
pleted, and in six weeks the waters of the Nile were 
led to Alexandria. 

6. A Street in Cairo. — It is to be doubted whether 
Bagdad itself is more truly Oriental than Cairo ; here 
it is that the traveler begins to feel that he is really in 
the East, The houses are high and narrow, with 
upper stories projecting; from these jut windows of 
delicate lattice-work of old brown wood, like big 
bird cages. Many of the streets are very narrow, 
and are roofed in overhead with long rafters and 
pieces of matting, through which stray dusty sun- 
beams. 

In the principal thoroughfares the crowd ebbs and 
flows unceasingly^a noisy, changing, restless tide — 
half Oriental, half European ; on foot, on horseback, 
and in carriages. Here are Syrian dragomans in 
baggy trousers and braided jackets, barefooted 
Egyptian fellaheen, in ragged blue shirts and felt 
skull-caps ; Greeks in stiff white tunics ; Persians 
with high caps of dark woven stuffs ; swarthy 
Bedouins in flowing garments ; Englishmen in palm- 
leaf hats and knickerbockers, dangling their long legs 
across almost invisible donkeys ; Armenian priests 
in long black gowns and high, square caps ; native 



484 EGYPT. 

women of the poorer class in black veils that leave 
only the eyes uncovered, and long, trailing garments ; 
majestic ghosts of Algerian Arabs, all in white. 
Now comes a sweetmeat vendor, with his tray ; now 
an Egyptian lady on a large gray donkey, led by a 
servant, with a showy sabre at his side. The lady 
wears a rose-colored silk dress and white veil, beside 
the black silk outer garment, which being cloak, 
hood and veil all in one, fills out with the wind as she 
rides, like a balloon. She sits astride, her feet in 
their violet velvet slippers just resting on the stirrups. 
Nor is the steed less well dressed than the mistress ; 
his high-pommeled saddle is resplendent with velvet 
and embroidery ; and his headgear is all tags, tassels 
and fringes. 

7. Shoubra Palace. — The Shoubra Palace, one of 
the country residences built for Mohammed Ali, lies 
about four miles out of Cairo. The road to it is 
broad and level, bordered on both sides by trees 
which meet overhead, and form a complete arbor for 
the whole distance. Here little sheds of roadside 
cafes alternate with smart modern villas ; gardeners' 
lads with a bouquet stuck in their turbans, offer 
flowers for sale to the passer-by. Ragged fellaheen 
on jaded donkeys trot side by side with elegant 
attaches on high-stepping Arab steeds ; while tourists 
in hired carriages, Jew bankers in smart phaetons, 
veiled ladies of the harem in London-built broughams, 
Italian shopkeepers in fashionable toilets, officers in 
braided frocks, and English girls in tall hats and 
close-fitting habits, pass and repass, preceed and 
follow each other in one changing, restless stream, the 



EGYPT. 485 

like of which is to be seen in no other capital in the 
world. 

The gardens of the palace are extensive, and are 
laid out in squares, and planted with orange and 
lemon trees. ' The extensive summer-house is built 
in the form of a hollow square, the interior of which 
is a reservoir with a fountain in the centre. The 
arcades and kiosks surrounding the basin have a 
very fine appearance. The broad marble walk opens 
upon the gardens except at the four corners, where 
there are billiard and smoking rooms. 

8. Interior of an Arabic Palace, Cairo. — There 
are no old palaces at Cairo ; all are of modern date 
and of the Saracenic style of architecture ; but into 
their construction has been put all the charm of 
beauty and romance that Oriental luxury could 
devise. The slender, airy columns, whose graceful 
proportions are borrowed from the native palm tree, 
and the beautiful serrated arches are of purest 
alabaster. The square court is filled with tropical 
plants, and in the centre is the fountain, whose faint 
plashing makes pleasant music. The floor of the 
corridor is of inlaid marble, while the walls are of 
rich tiling. Beyond we see the delicate tracery of 
the lattice-window, which opens into the richly fur- 
nished reception-room. The floor is covered with 
heavy turkish carpet, and luxurious divans extend 
around the room. While resting there we may study 
the details of the richly decorated ceiling, the beau- ' 
tiful patterns of the earthenware tiles which line the 
lower part of the walls, and the elegantly carved 
brackets and shelves, on which are arranged all 
kinds of finely wrought vessels. 



486 EGYPT. 

9. Masharabeah— Lattice Window. — " To wan- 
der through Cairo is to meet constant novelty ; only 
to look round is a joy, and merely to see is to 
learn." Not a little of the magical charm of this 
marvellous city is due to the Masharabeah. Leaving 
the carefully watered footway of a street on both 
sides of which are ranged handsome houses of Euro- 
pean architecture, we turn into a shady side street, 
where we walk between two high stone walls. Not 
a window allows of any friendly intercourse between 
the street and the interior, but balconies with close 
lattices of wood-work project before us, behind us, 
above us; on the right hand and on the left, all along 
the street, concealing everything that lives and stirs 
within from the gaze of the passer-by or of the opposite 
neighbor. Through the interstices and openings of 
these lattices, — which are worked with richly pierced 
patterns and delicately turned bars, — many an Arab 
lady's eye peeps down on us below, for the lattice admits 
air to the women's rooms and allows the fair ones to 
see without being seen. 

Behind this window is the harem, where even the 
most mtimate friends of the master are forbidden to 
enter. The inhabitants devote their entire existence 
to the care of their children, to dress, to smoking 
their nargilehs, and to trifling amusements. They 
do not regard themselves in any sense as prisoners, 
and have frequently assured European ladies that 
-they would not exchange places with them. 

10. Fountain of Ablution— Mosque of Hassan. 

— The Mosque of Sultan Hassan, confessedly the 
most beautiful in Cairo, is also perhaps the most 
beautiful in the Moslem world. It was built at just 



EGWPT. 487 

that happy moment when Arabian art in Egypt hav- 
ing ceased merely to imitate, at length evolved an 
original style of its own. It may justly be regarded 
as the highest point reached by Saracenic art in 
Egypt. 

Going up the steps and through a lofty hall, up 
more steps and along a gloomy corridor, we reach the 
great court. The first sight of this court is a surprise, 
and its beauty equals its novelty. An immense, 
marble quadrangle, open to the sky and enclosed 
within lofty walls, with a vast recess at each side, 
framed in by a single arch. Each recess forms a 
spacious hall for rest and prayer ; that at the eastern 
end is wider and considerably deeper than the other 
three, and contains the holy niche and the pulpit of 
the preacher. There is a beautiful fountain in the 
court, at which each worshipper performs his ablutions 
on coming in. This done he leaves his slippers on 
the matting and treads the carpeted dais barefoot. 

The dome shaped roof of the fountain is as light 
and fragile looking as a big bubble ; but what was 
once a miracle of Saracenic ornament is fast going 
to destruction. The rich marbles at its base are 
cracked and discolored, its stuccoed cupola is flaking 
off, its enamels are dropping out, and its lace-like 
wood tracery is shredding away by inches. 

11. Bazaar of Antiques, Cairo. — To thoroughly 
enjoy an overwhelming impression of Orientel out- 
of-doors life, one should begin with a day in the 
native bazaars. The narrow thoroughfare is lined 
with little wooden shop-fronts, like open cabinets full 
of shelves, where the merchants sit in the midst of 
their goods, looking out at the passers-by and smok- 



488 EGYPT. 

ing in silence. Their apparel is most picturesque ; 
they wear ample white turbans, long vests of striped 
Syrian silk, and an outer robe of braided cloth or 
cashmere. That these stately beings should vulgarly 
buy and sell, seems altogether contrary to the eternal 
fitness of things. Their civility and patience are 
inexhaustible. One may turn over their whole stock 
and go away again and again without buying, and yet 
be always welcomed and dismissed with smiles. 
Many of the bazaars are very small, seeming like a 
cupboard fitted up with tiers of little drawers and 
pigeonholes. Our merchant in the picture has a much 
more commodious apartment, and makes a fine display 
of his goods on the pavement. Here may be bought 
beautiful cabinets of ebony inlaid with mother-of- 
pearl ; quaint little stools ; old embroideries ; beautiful 
specimens of the delicately wrought wood-work used 
in the lattice windows ; old porcelain ; and brass and 
copper vessels, cups, basins, trays, and incense 
burners, many of which are exquisitely engraved with 
Arabesque patterns or sentences from the poets. 
Strong-minded must be the foreigner who can pass 
this tempting display without stopping to purchase. 

12. Interior of Gezeereh Palace, Cairo. — None 
of the palaces of the Khedive is more worthy of 
mention than the palace of Gezeereh — "the island" 
— being situated on an island in the Nile. It is a 
princely residence furnished with Oriental magnifi- 
cence ; at the opening of the Suez Canal the Viceroy's 
most distinguished guests lived in it, and splendid 
balls attracted vast number. It contains chimney 
pieces of onyx which cost a fortune, and nothing 
prettier can be imagined than the room furnished with 



EGYPT. 489 

light blue satin which was prepared for the Empress 
Eugenie. Magnificent as is everything in this palace, 
all else is forgotten when we see the Kiosk of 
Gezeereh, for in splendor, charm and peculiarity it 
leaves far behind it everything that has been produced 
by Oriental architecture in modern times. The path 
leading to this fairy palace is beautiful ; and passing 
a pdo\ of translucent water, we see before us the 
lightest and airiest of structures, a hall in the style of 
the Alhambra. Lingering here in the cool evening 
hour, soothed by the plashing of the fountains, inhal- 
ing the fragrance ot the flowers, one might dream on 
forever. 

13. Citadel and Mosque of Moliamed Ali. — This 
citadel is in itself a small town, being a combination 
of mosque, fortress, and palace, built upon a rocky 
elevation commanding the city. The greatest and 
most celebrated monument erected in Cairo by 
Mohamed Ali is the mosque in which he lies entombed. 
Its two tall and slender minarets are conspicuous 
from a great distance, and as one leaves Cairo they 
remain longer in sight than any other landmark. No 
expense was spared in building this magnificent 
structure ; the beautiful alabaster which the ancient 
Egyptians wrought in so many ways, was here so 
lavishly employed that the building was called the 
" Alabaster Mosque." The pale marble polish of this 
stone gleams everywhere — in the court enclosed by 
vaulted arcades, in the fountain rising in its midst, 
and in the finely proportioned body of the mosque. 

The view from the citadel is magr^viitent, the vast- 
ness of the city, as it lies stretched below, surprises 
everyone. It looks a perfect wilderness of flat roofs, 



49° EGYPT. 

cupolas, minarets, and palm tops, with here and there 
an open space presenting the complete front of a 
mosque, gay groups of people and moving camels. 
You can plainly see as far southward as the Pyramids 
of Sakkarah, and trace the windings of the Nile for 
many miles across the plain. 

Before leaving the visitor is shown the spot where 
the Mameluke nobles, four hundred and eighty in 
number, were shot down like dogs in a trap. One 
only is said to have escaped ; he leaped his horse over 
the wall, miraculously escaped unhurt, and fled to the 
desert. 

14, Arab Cemetery in the Desert. — Leaving 
Cairo by the Gate of Victory we come at once to the 
hills that protect the city from the inroads of the 
desert. All is naked and barren, not a tree nor a 
particle of green to be seen. After riding for a mile 
or two over sandhills we reach one of the modern 
burial grounds of Cairo. There are a number of these 
cemeteries in and about the city, but this is by far the 
most extensive. In no instance is the graveyard 
enclosed, but frequently a small portion is walled in, 
with a building attached as a family tomb for some of 
the wealthier people. 

Hardly has the Moslem breathed his last than the 
women set up their discordant wailing which sounds 
afar, and announces the melancholy event to the whole 
neighborhood. They beat their breasts, tear their 
hair, and continue their hideous cries, while the men 
of the household make the necessary preparations for 
the funeral on the morrow. When the time for the 
funeral arrives the procession moves through the 
streets at a good round pace until the mosque is 



EGYPT. 491 

reached where a funeral , prayer must be said. Then 
the clamorous train hurries outtothe cemetery in the 
desert. The grave is already made, — a low structure 
of bricks, with an arched top, open at one end. After 
a short prayer, the body is taken from the bier, and 
pushed into the opening so that it rests on the right 
side, with the head towards Mecca. As soon as the 
!grave is closed bread, dates, and grease are distributed 
.among-the poor who have in the meantime collected. 
Then the procession disperses and the mourners return 
to their homes. The grave of the departed remains 
a bourne of pilgrimage, and his memory is perpet- 
uated by the beautiful custom of distributing food to 
the poor. 

15. Tombs of the Caliphs, Cairo. — It is but a 

short distance from this cemetery in the desert to the 
tombs of the Mameluke Sultans, which are among 
the most celebrated ruins of Cairo. They are usually 
called by the inhabitants of the city El Kaidbai, the 
name of the principal building, which is the tomb of 
the nineteenth king of the dynasty, who was buried 
liere in 1496. There are a number of the tombs, each 
of which consists of a building with a mosque attached. 
The domes and minarets of many of them are exceed- 
ingly beautiful in design ; the minarets being lofty 
and graceful, and the domes covered with a raised fret- 
work of arabesque patterns. The buildings are all of 
light colored stone, laid in courses with black or red; 
the black limestone is brought from the vicinity of tlje 
convent of St. Anthony in the eastern desert; but the 
red bands are merely painted on the originally light 
surface. 



492 EGYPT. 

No one can see these beautiful structures without 
regretting that they are permitted to go to decay; 
they are not merely neglected, but in many cases the 
materials have been taken for the erection of modern 
buildings. The mosques are shut, and the edifices 
connected with them are occupied by a few poor, 
ragged people. 

16. Water Carriers. — Among the occupations 
that most forcibly strike the attention of the stranger 
in Cairo is that of the water carrier. On the road 
from Boulak to Cairo, the most peculiar feature of 
the scene is the immense number of these carriers 
constantly passing between the city and the port 
Now we meet one bending under the load which is 
strapped across his shoulders, another may have the 
load on the back of a camel or donkey, and the next 
we meet may be a woman, walking with stately tread, 
as though the burden poised upon her head were a 
crown of gold. 

The water is carried in skins, the legs being tied 
up, and the neck fitted with a brass cock ; occasion- 
ally the hair is left on, in which case, when nearly 
replenished, the skin has a horribly bloated and 
life-like appearance. 

The water is sold from house to house, or peddled 
on the streets, the peddler attracting the attention of 
the passer-by by clattering' the metal drinking cup 
and calling out, "The way of God, O thirsty ones.'' 

Pious phrases, such as " God forgive thy sins, O 
distributor of drink ! " or " God have mercy on thy 
parents ! " are particularly frequent on the lips of the 
water seller when, in honor of some festival, he is 
hired to give water free of charge to all that ask it. 



Egypt. 493 

and each one who receives the bowl of refreshing 
fluid at his hand responds with thanks, and a ferv^ent 
"Amen " to his pious invocation. When the skin is 
empty the blessing of God is called down on the 
dispenser of drink, with the wish that he may come 
to Paradise. 

17. Ra-em-ke. Oldest Wooden Statue. — Of all 

the known collections of Egyptian antiquities, that at 
Boulak is the most important, and can boast of one 
great advantage, — that for every object in it the 
place where it was found can be pointed out. Chief 
among these objects of interest is a very remarkable 
figure in sycamore wood. It is the oldest wooden 
statue in existence, and represents a high official of 
mature age. Ra-em-ke was a "superintendent of 
works," which probably means that he was an over- 
seer of corvee labor at the building of the Great 
Pyramids. We seem to see him, staff in hand, 
watching his workmen. He belonged to the middle 
class, and his whole person expresses vulgar content- 
ment and self-satisfaction ; the body is stout and heavy, 
and the neck thick. The head, despite its vulgarity, 
does not lack energy. The eyes have a peculiarly life- 
like expression, the orbit having been cut out from the 
wood and the hollow filled with an eye composed of 
white and black enamel. The feet of the statue had 
perished, but have been restored. 

By a curious coincidence the statue, which M^as 
found at Sakkarah, bore a striking resemblance to 
the local Sheykh-el-Beled or chief magistrate of the 
village. Always quick to seize upon the amusing 
side of an incident, the Arab diggers at once called 
the figure the "Sheykh-el-Beled," and it has retained 
the name ever since. 



4^4 EGYPT. 

18. Mummy of Kameses II. — The central figure 
of Egyptian history has always been and always 
will be Rameses the Great. He it is, more than all 
the other Pharaohs, that excites our personal, living 
interest. He was the son of Seti I., the second 
Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty, and of the prin- 
cess Tuaa, who is described on the monuments as 
"royal wife, r6yal mother, and heiress and sharer of 
the throne." It is supposed that she had a better 
right than her husband to the double crown of Egypt, 
and that through her Rameses was born a king, equal 
in rank with his father ; certain it is that he was 
accorded royal and divine honors from the hour of 
his birth. At the age of twelve he was formally 
associated with his father on the throne, and gradu- 
ally assumed the cares of active government. Upon 
the death of his father he assumed the entire respon- 
sibility of the government, and immediately became 
famous for his battles. He conducted campaigns in 
Syria ; he brought warfare into Ethiopia ; he carried 
fire and sword into the land of Canaan and took, 
among other places, the strong fortresses of Ascalon 
and Jerusalem. 

In the evening of his life it became his passion to 
build. He founded new cities, dug canals, built 
fortresses, multiplied statues, and erected most gor- 
geous and costly temples. No enterprise was too 
difficult, no project too vast for his ambition, and the 
remains of his efforts are the wonders of the world. 

To-day all that is left of this precocious youth ; 
this mighty warrior, terrible in battle ; this supreme 
builder; this divine king ; — occupies a small space in 
the Boulak Museum, numbered and labeled as an 
antique. 



EGYPT. -!l95 

19. The Mahmal Leaving- for Mecca. — The 

grandest festival of the Moslems is the departure of 
the Mahmal for Mecca. On that day all Cairo is 
astir the first thing in the morning. The streets 
leading from the citadel to the Bab-en-Nasr swarm 
with humanity ; the shops are shut, and in every spot 
where the caravan will pass, heads piled behind 
heads crowd every window ; Arabs and Nubians of 
every shade and description squeeze themselves in 
and out among the carriages, swarm to the top of 
every wall, and fill the air with laughter and pleasant 
greeting. Women in great numbers mix with the 
inquisitive throng, and dark eyes sparkle from every 
lattice window. On this occasion the curiosity and 
natural love of display innate in every Cairene is 
heightened by religious feeling, for the Mahmal is 
held in special veneration. Although it is a symbol 
of regal dignity only and has no religious signifi- 
cance, it has so often made the pilgrimage to Mecca, 
that it has' assumed the character of a relic, of which 
the touch or even the sight brings a blessing. 

The procession opens with a body of soldiers^ 
proudly perched on tall camels ; then a whole herd 
of the hump-backed beasts follow, decked with bells 
and stained orange color, bearing all the necessary 
baggage of the pilgrims ; then follows some two 
hundred pilgrims on foot, chanting passages from the 
Koran ; then a regiment of Egyptian infantry, fol- 
lowed by more pilgrims and a body of dervishes, 
carrying green banners embroidered with Arabic 
sentences in white and yellow. More bands, more 
infantry and more pilgrims follow. The people 
shout louder and louder ; and now appears the 



49^ EGYPT. 

great priest of the pilgrimage, who is entrusted with 
the leadership of the expedition. Behind him follow 
another troop of officers, dervishes and citizens; it 
seems as though the long stream would never end. 
Then occurs a break in the procession — an eager 
pause — a gathering murmur — and then, riding a gaunt 
dromedary at a rapid trot, his fat sides shaking and 
his head rolling at every step, appeared the famous 
" Sheykh of the Camel," the idol of the people, who 
makes the pilgrimage every year, and is supposed to 
fast and roll his head all the way to and from Mecca. 
Presently from afar a swelling roar makes itself heard; 
the noise increases ; every eye is turned down the 
street in greatest excitement ; — and presently we 
distinguish the sacred Mahmal. Everyone strives to 
touch it and benefit by its blessing. Handkerchiefs are 
let down from windows, that they may be sanctified by 
the sacred contact. The people scream and shout, 
and are fairly beside themselves with excitement, and 
all in honor of an empty litter, of gilded tracery, 
hung round with cloth richly embroidered with texts 
from the Koran. In the days of the Mamelukes the 
Mahmal represented the litter of the sultan, but now 
it simply carries the tribute-carpet, sent every year 
from Cairo to the tomb of the Prophet. 

20. Group ot Great Pyramids. — One of the first 
excursions while in Cairo will be a visit to the Pyra- 
mids. The fine road is well shaded by trees, and the 
dewy verdure of the fields very refreshing. All the 
time the pyramids are in sight, and it is singular to 
note the deception created by their great size and the 
clearness of the atmosphere. At first they appear 
neither very high nor very distant. From afar 



EGYPT. 49 7 

the well-known triangular forms look small and 
shadowy and are too familiar to be in any way start- 
ling; but when the edge of the desert is at last 
reached and the platform gained, the effect is as 
sudden as it is overwhelming. It is only when we 
look at the immense pile above us, and observe that 
the first course of the innumerable layers of huge 
stones are nearly as high as a man, that we can form 
any idea of the vast proportions of these ancient and 
mysterious giants of the desert. Gazing upward, 
glancing along from step to step, the eye becomes 
weary with reaching the summit of these wonderful 
creations. It is no easy task to realize either the 
size or the age of these Pyramids; the Great Pyramid 
is supposed to have been built 4,200 years before the 
birth of Christ, and measures 732 feet on a side, with 
a perpendicular height of 480 feet. 

Many have been the ideas propounded as to the 
purpose the pyramids were intended to serve, but it 
is now a generally accepted fact that they were sim- 
ply colossal tombs. 

21. Temple Sphynx and Great Pyramid. — At 

a short distance from the foot of the Pyramid of 
Cheops, in a deep, sandy hollow, stands the world- 
famed Sphynx, — most mysterious of all mysterious 
images, the watcher of the desert, " the father of 
termors." Its huge mass was covered with desert 
sand again and again, in ancient times as well as in 
our own days ; only the head, decorated with the 
royal coif, being left, gazing fixedly eastward. 

The mutilated state of the face renders it impossi- 
ble to trace the outline of the features with any 
accuracy, but the general expression may still be 



49 8 EGYPT. 

gathered, and is one of great placidity. Some 
ancient writers speak of the face as "very beautiful," 
and of the mouth as "graceful and lovely, and as it 
were, smiling graciously ; " and one traveler mentions 
the "exquisite proportions of the Sphynx's head" 
as the most wonderful thing he had seen in all his 
journeyings. 

Old Arab writers regarded the Sphynx as a talis- 
man to keep the sand away from the cultivated 
ground, and tradition says that it was mutilated in 
the fourteenth century, and that since this desecration 
the sand has made great encroachments. 

Thousands have gazed upon this face, while yet 
perfect, in adoration, and other thousands in more 
recent ages with mingled admiration, curiosity and 
awe. 

22. The Sphynx Excavated. — During recent years 
the Sphynx has been compelled to reveal itself, and 
stand confessed to daylight and curiosity. It has 
been ascertained that it was hewn out of the solid 
rock, and where the stone has 'not lent itself to the 
form of the lion-body it has been supplemented with 
masonry. The figure measures sixty-four feet from 
the crown of the head to the pavement on which the 
paws rest ; the head itself measuring thirty feet from 
the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin, 
and about fourteen feet across. The body is 140 feet 
long. 

An altar, three tablets, a lion, and numerous frag- 
ments were discovered in the space between the 
paws ; no entrance could be found, and it is probable 
that the interior is of solid rock. The altar stood 
between the two paws, and a stately flight of steps 



EGYPT. 499 

led up to it. Through many successive centuries 
worshippers innumerable mounted these steps to pay 
homage to the Sphynx. 

The Sphynx was the image of a mighty god — 
Hamarchis — the young hght which conquers the 
darkness ; the soul triumphing over death ; fertility 
expelling dearth. Each Pharaoh regarded himself 
as the mortal incarnation of the sun-god ; and there- 
fore the kings selected the form of a Sphynx as ex- 
pressing the divine essence in their nature. The 
attribute of irresistible physical strength was repre- 
sented by the powerful lion-body ; the highest intel- 
lectual power by the human head. 

23. Pyramid of Sakkarali. --Turning our steps 
southward in a short time we reach the pyramid of 
Sakkarah, which is curiously built in stages or 
degrees. The degrees are five in number, diminish- 
ing in height and breadth toward the top. The 
height of the lowest story is thirty-seven feet, the 
entire height of the pyramid being about 190 feet. 
It is entirely stripped of its outer covering, so that 
the blocks of stone of which it is built stand out 
naked and irregular. This pyramid differs from the 
others in many respects ; it is n6t set to the four 
points of the compass as they are ; its base is not a 
square, and its interior construction is very peculiar. 
Immediately under the centre is an excavation in the 
rock, seventy-seven feet in depth and twenty-four 
feet square. The top of this is dome-shaped and 
was originally lined with wooden rafters ; the bot- 
tom is paved with blocks of granite, and beneath is a 
rude chamber, the opening to which was concealed 
by a granite block, four tons in weight. 



500 EGYPT. 

There is a wonderful fascination about this pyra- 
mid. One is never weary of looking at it, and of 
repeating to one's self that this is indeed the oldest 
building on the face of the whole earth. All we 
know of the builder is his name ; all we have of him 
is his pyramid, and these belong to the infancy of 
the human race. 

24. Siout From the Nile. — We secure our daha- 
beeyah and begin our trip up the Nile, our first 
stop to be made at Siout, the capital of the province 
of the same name, and the residence of the governor 
of Upper Egypt. The Nile makes several large 
bends before reaching Siout, which often cause con- 
siderable delay. Indeed, after Siout is clearly in 
sight, and only three miles distant as the crow flies, 
following the long reaches of the river we often 
appear to be leaving it behind, the town itself, with 
clustered cupolas and arrowy minarets, lying back in 
the plain at the foot of a great mountain pierced 
with tombs. 

Siout is famous throughout the country for its red 
and black pottery, which is of beautiful shape and 
excellent quality. There is a whole street of such 
pottery in the town, and our dahabeeyah is scarcely 
made fast before a dealer comes on board and ranges 
his brittle wares along the deck, while others dis- 
play their goods upon the bank. 

A lofty embanked road, planted with fine trees, 
leads to Siout, and many of the buildings are very 
attractive, but once in the heart of the town we find 
the thoroughfares dusty, narrow, unpaved and 
crowded. The houses are of plastered mud or sun- 
dried bricks, and altogether Siout, which from the 



EGYPT. 501 

distance looks like a vision of dreamland, on nearer 
acquaintance we find both ugly and ordinary. 

25. Colonnade, Temple . of Denderah. — Con- 
tinuing our journey up the Nile, we land to see the 
celebrated ruins of the temple of Denderah. From 
the distance the temple looks enormous — an immense 
low, sharply-defined mass of dead-white masonry. 
The walls slope in slightly towards the top, and the 
facade seems as though supported on eight square 
piers, with a large doorway in the centre. All looks 
strangely solemn, more like a tomb than a temple. 

A ride of two miles, over a plain covered with 
coarse, tall grass and with occasional clumps of palms, 
brings us to the temple. We find the facade to be 
composed of huge, round columns with human- 
headed capitals ; and the massive gateway is rich 
with inscriptions and bas-reliefs. Not until we stand 
immediately under the ponderous columns do we 
realize the immense proportions of the building. 
The cornices and mouldings contain the richest 
curves ; the capitals of the columns consist of a 
woman's face four times repeated, which appears to 
smile on you from which ever side you regard it ; the 
sculptures represent scenes of joy and pleasure; 
religious festivals, processions and groups, charmed 
by the sound of music ; fit subjects for a temple dedi- 
cated to Hathor, the Egyptian Venus, goddess of 
beauty and love. 

26. Trading- Boat on the Mle. — Our picture 
shows one of the common Arab boats of the Nile, 
such as are used for trading purposes. It is flat- 
bottomed and quite shallow in the hold ; the light 
draught being adapted to the numerous shoals in the 



5© 2 EGYPT. 

river, and the necessity for towing on the banks when 
the wind is ahead. The lanteen sails have very long 
yards, and when a fleet of boats are going together 
before the wind the sails have a most singular and 
beautiful effect, for they seem like a flock of huge 
birds, v/ith wings uplifted, as if about to take flight. 
The Arab sailors have hard work and wretched 
fare. They all sleep on deck exposed to the weather, 
wrapped up in a course brown woolen robe, which is 
their bed by night, and their outer garment by day ; 
it reaches the ankles and has wide, loose sleeves, and 
resembles a woman's dress rather than a man's. As 
thty walk about or sit squatting upon the ground, 
the greater part of the lower order of Arabs look 
like old women in dirty and ragged brown cloaks. 
It seems odd enough to see sailors at work in this 
trim, yet they work hard at the rope wdien "track- 
ing" the boat on shore, or on board when rowing or 
pushing with the pole. Their legs and feet are bare ; 
they are all excellent swimmers and take to the 
water as readily as dogs, stripping themselves in an 
instant and plunging into the river to shove the boat, 
or to carry a rope on shore. 

27. The Grand Temple of Luxor. — Our next 
stopping place is at Luxor, which occupies part of 
the site of the city of Thebes, the capital of ancient 
Egypt. Thebes was built on both sides of the river ; 
a more noble site for a great inland city the world 
can hardly offer, and that site was occupied by a city, 
the wealthiest, most populous, and most richly em- 
bellished of any in the world. From each of its 
hundred gates two hundred war chariots could at 
once be sent out to repel the enemy. Its public 



EGYPT. 503 

buildings, its quays, its thousands of private edifices 
are gone, and have left few traces ; of its sacred edi- 
fices five large ruins are all that remain in evidence 
of its ancient splendor. 

Luxor is a modern Arab village occupying the site 
of one of the oldest of these five ruins. The original 
sanctuary and the adjoining chambers, with the 
large colonnade and the pylon before it, were built 
by Amunoph III; Rameses II afterwards added the 
great court, the pyramidal towers, and the obelisks 
and statues. 

Until quite recently it was impossible to trace the 
plan of this wonderful structure. The temple formed 
the nucleus of the modern village, and mud hovels, 
pigeon towers, dirty yards, and the village mosque 
clustered in and about the ruins. Stately capitols 
peeped out from the midst of sheds, in which buffa- 
loes, camels, donkeys, dogs, and human beings were 
crowded together. The ordinary routine of Arab 
life, was going on amid winding passages that masked 
the colonnades, and defaced the inscriptions of the 
Pharaohs. Of late the ruins of the great temple 
have undergone a complete transformation. The 
mud hovels have been removed, and the temple 
stands revealed in all its grandeur of design and 
beauty of proportion. The great courtyard built by 
Rameses the Great measures 170 feet by 190, and our 
picture enables us to form some idea of the size of 
the massive columns which are fifty-seven feet in 
height. 

28. General View of Luxor. — The village mosque 
is now the only one of the modern structures left 



504 EGYPT. 

within the temple. The great court, the pyramidal 
towers, and the obelisks, though last in the order of 
antiquity, form the commencement of the temple. 
The obelisks are of red granite, highly polished, the 
four sides covered with hieroglyphics, admirable alike 
for the style of their execution and the depth to which 
they are cut. But one of these obelisks remains in 
its place, its companion having been transported to 
Paris, where from its post of honor in the Place de la 
Concorde, it looks down on the gay life of the French 
capital. 

Beside the obelisks were two sitting statues of 
Rameses, one on each side of the pylon or gateway. 
The whole outer surface of the towers is covered with 
elaborate sculptures of gods and men, horses and 
chariots, the carnage of war and the pageantry of 
triumph. 

29. A Mummy Dealer. — Luxor is the great em- 
porium for the sale of antiquities. Immediately upon 
your boat being moored under the bank, there is a 
general rush of donkeys and donkey-boys, guides, 
beggars, and antiquity dealers ; the children cry for 
backshish ; the dealers exhibit strings of imitation 
scarabs ; while the donkey -boys loudly call the names 
and praises of their animals. The dealers in "an- 
teekahs " waylay and follow you wherever you go; 
every man, woman, and child about the place is bent 
on selling you a bargain ; and the bargain, in ninety- 
nine cases out of a hundred, is an imitation executed 
with such skill as to almost defy detection. A good 
thing is to be had occasionally, but a good thing is 
never shown as long as there is market for a poor one. 



EGYPT. 505 

and the dealer can readily discover whether the 
purchaser is experienced or otherwise. 

The desire of every traveler's heart is to become 
the possessor of a mummy. The sale of mummies is 
prohibited by the government, and each one that is 
found is carefully forwarded to the museum at Boulak, 
— but of course, this fact renders the hunt all the 
more exciting, and to possess a stolen mujnmy be- 
comes the acme of happiness. 

After many precautionary arrangements, the pur- 
chaser is finally led to where the mummy is hid- 
den in a rock-cut tomb ; the sale being conducted 
with the greatest secrecy. There is a growing passion 
for mummies among Nile travelers; the price rises 
with the demand, and a mummy nowadays is not 
only a prohibited but a costly luxury. One traveler 
tells of some friends who secured a mummy "at an 
enormous price ; and then, unable to endure the 
perfume of their ancient Egyptian, drowned the dear 
departed at the end of a week." 

30. Avenue of Spliynxes and Propylon, Karnak. 

Leaving the village of Luxor, we ride out across a 
wide plain, barren and hillocky in some parts, in 
others overgrown with coarse halfeh grass, indicating 
the site of ancient ruins ; the road, uneven but direct, 
leading straight to Karnak. All at once the road 
widens and becomes a stately avenue, guarded by a 
double line of sphynxes, and led towards a lofty 
pylon, standing up clearly against the sky. Close 
beside this grand gateway is a thicket of sycamore 
palms, while beyond we see the twin pylons of a 
temple. The sphynxes are coUossal, measuring ten 



5o6 EGYPT. 

feet in length. All are headless, some split asunder, 
some overturned, others so mutilated that they re- 
semble torrent-worn boulders, yet enough remains to 
show that they were sculptured with exquisite art. 
The avenue once reached from Karnak to Luxor, 
and taking into account the distance from temple to 
temple, there cannot originally have been less than 
five hundred of these sphynxes. The effect upon one 
passing through the avenue must have been in the 
highest degree impressive and well calculated to 
compose the mind and prepare it for the worship of 
the gods to whom the temple was dedicated. 

31. The Great Hall of Columns, Karnak. — 

Leaving the Temple of Rameses II., we turn toward 
the river and approach the Great Temple by way of 
its main entrance. We pass through what has once 
been another great avenue of sphynxes leading up 
from the grand landing place on the Nile. Passing 
through a tremendous portal we reach a large open 
court with a covered corridor on either side, and a 
double line of columns down the centre. Through 
another great propylonand we reach the Grand Hall, 
the largest and most magnificent of all the Egyptian 
monuments ; a forest of gigantic pillars ; this far 
exceeds in grandeur any other portion of the temple, 
and there is not in the whole world a hall which can 
be put in remotest comparison with it ; the scale is 
vast, the effect tremendous. Six men, standing with 
extended arms, could barely span these columns 
round. They casta shadow 12 feet in breadth, — such 
a shadow as might be cast by a tower. The rows of 
columns to right and left supported windows of stone 



EGYPT. 507 

trellis-work, reaching as high as the twelve large 
pillars, and the roof glittered with stars strewed on a 
blue ground. 

32. General View of the Great Temple, Kariiak. 

— At the end of the Great Hall is another propylon, 
much ruined, and beyond is a narrow, open court, 
where are two obelisks, which although they are 75 
feet high, appear small in their position. One is 
thrown down and broken, but the other still stands. 
Passing through another propylon and another court 
we come to the great obelisk of Queen Hatasoo, the 
largest in the world. 

Beyond this all is confusion ; vast lengths of sculp- 
tured walls covered with wondrous battle subjects ; 
ruined court-yards surrounded by files of headless 
statues ; fallen columns, roofless chambers, shattered 
pylons are passed by and succeeded by fresh wonders. 
But in the midst of our admiration a shadow creeps 
o'er us and a sigh is borne on the atmosphere, as we 
remember at what a terrible sacrifice these buildings 
were erected, for every stone of these huge temples 
cost at least one human life. 

33. The Colossi, Thebes. — Who has not heard 
the poetic tale of the Singing Memnon ? How, as 
his mother, the rosy dawn appeared, and shed her tears 
— the morning dew — on the statue of her son, he grate- 
fully greeted her with a soft song? This is the beautiful 
legend that the Greeks have woven around the 
northern of the two colassal figures which stand in 
the wide solitary plain, with the Libyan mountains as 
a background. The figures are between 50 and 60 



5o8 EGYPT. 

feet in height, and about 40 feet apart ; they are all 
that remain of the gigantic edifice erected by Amen- 
ophis in honor of his mother, his wife, and himself. 
The vast halls of the temple are totally destroyed, but 
the remains compose so huge a mass that we are 
justified in supposing that the Memnonium must 
have exceeded all the others in size and extent. 

The sound emitted by the Memnon resembled the 
breaking of a harp-string or the ring of metal, and 
various opinions have existed as to whether the sound 
was the result of natural phenomenon or priestly 
craft. Both statues were originally one entire block, 
but the northern one was injured by an earthquake. 
The vocal phenomenon appears to have resulted from 
the action of the rays of the sun, which at first rising 
are very powerful in these latitudes ; these, striking 
on the broad inclined surface of the statue while it 
was still wet with the dews of night, caused the par- 
ticles of the stone to expand with a peculiar ringing 
noise. The portion of the colossus that had been 
thrown down was restored by Septimius Severus ; the 
sounds ceased, and the "Harp of Memnon " was 
heard no more. 

34. Great Coiu-t, Medinet Aboo. — A short dis- 
tance from these collossal statues, and upon the ledge 
of rock which borders the plain and forms the base 
of the Libyan hills, is situated the Temple of Medinet 
Aboo. Next in importance to Karnak, and second 
in interest to none of the Theban ruins, this vast 
group of buildings is distinguished by the grandeur 
and originality of its plan, and the excellent preser- 
vation of its most important parts. The temple was 



EGYPT. 509 

constructed at different periods — the original edifice 
by one of the Pharaohs, but the more modern parts 
by the Ptolemies and Caesars. More recently still 
one area has been converted into a Christian church, 
by erecting an altar and covering the pagan sculptures 
v/ith plaster. The ruins consist of a small temple ; an 
exceedingly curious and interesting building, part 
palace, part fortress, generally known as the Pavilion; 
and a large and magnificent temple built by Rameses 
III. to commemorate his deeds of valor. The walls 
are covered with sculptures representing great wars, 
great victories, magnificent praises of the prowess of 
the king, pompous lists of enemies slain and captured, 
and inventories of precious gifts offered by the victor 
to the gods of Egypt. 

35. The Rameseum Grand Hall, Thebes. — One 

of the noblest creations of Egyptian architecture 
was the Rameseum, the remains of which are a con- 
spicuous ornament of Western Thebes. The walls 
tell the story of how, in a furious battle, Rameses 
the Great was cut off from his army, and how by the 
might of his own right arm he defended himself 
against the enemy, and setting himself again at the 
head of his forces, disastrously defeated the opposing 
army. To keep his own glorious deeds in remem- 
brance, and as a thank offering to the gods, he erected 
this magnificent temple. Entering the first court, we 
find the statue of the king, once the largest. statue in 
Egypt, now lyings in fragments on the earth. 
It was hewn out of one solid piece of granite, 
and was 75 feet in height and 23 feet across the 
shoulders. One ear, which is still intact, is 3 feet 



5IO EGYPT, 

3 inches long, and the foot measures ii feet in length 
by 4 feet lo inches in breadth. This statue is one of 
the wonders of Egyptian workmanship, and although 
it repeats every detail of the colossi of Abou Simbel, 
it surpassed them in finish of carving and perfection 
of material. The stone is beautiful in color and close 
and hard in grain ; the solid contents of the whole 
are calculated to have been 887 tons. How this 
immense mass was transported, how it was raised, 
and how it was overthrown are still questions for 
conjecture. 

30. Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. — Before 

leaving Luxor we must visit the valley of the tombs 
of the kings. Going down the river bank some little 
distance, we cross a cultivated plain, and reach the 
foot of the rocky hills that border it. Before us 
opens a narrow pass, through which, in bygone ages, 
the mourning train followed the bier of the Pharaoh 
into the valley of death. It is closed in on both 
sides by bare walls of yellowish limestone ; the weird 
rocks stand out like sentinels to right and left ; the 
chalky track glares under foot ; not a breath stirs ; 
the intense heat of the sun pours down into the 
narrow and dismal gorge, and its rays falling on the 
rocks, heat them like the walls of a gigantic oven ; 
all is desolation ; not the smallest herb or blade of 
grass can strike root in these rocky cliffs. The gorge 
opens into a small plain, from which a ravine runs up 
into the mountain, and it is there we find the most 
ancient sepulchres of the kings. A few feet above 
the soil of the valley we see the opening of a tomb ; 
then another ; and yet more. The tombs are built oa 



EG VPT. 5 1 1 

the same general plan, but differ in the number and 
size of the rock-hewn chambers, and the number and 
finish of the inscriptions on the walls. All the 
inscriptions refer to the life to come ; the wanderings 
of the soul after its separation from the body, the 
the terrors and dangers that beset it during its journey 
through Hades, and the demons it must fight, are 
subjects of endless illustration, 

37. Pylon of the Temple at Edfoo.— On the 

western bank of the Nile, surrounded by villages 
and hamlets, is the temple of Edfoo. From a distance 
we catch sight of the tall pylons, rising creamy in 
light, against a soft blue sky. A few years since 
nothing was visible of this great temple save the top 
of these pylons. The rest of the building was as 
much lost to sight as if the earth had opened 
and sw-allowed it. Its courtyards were choked with 
foul debris ; its sculptured chambers were buried 
under forty feet of soil ; its terraced roof was a maze 
of closely-packed huts, swarming with human beings, 
poultry, dogs, and kine. To-day the huge building 
stands before us in the sunshine, erect and perfect. 
The pylons, covered with gigantic sculptures, tower 
to a height of 115 feet. Through the great doorway, 
50 feet in height, we catch glimpses of a grand court- 
yard, and of a vista of doorways, one behind the 
other. In these vast courts and storied halls all is 
unchanged ; every pavement, every column, every 
stair is in its place. The hieroglyphic inscriptions are 
as sharp and legible as the day they were cut. If 
here and there a capital has been mutilated, the 
blemishes are scarcely observed, and in nowise mar 
the wonderful effect of the whole 



5 I 2 EGYPT. 

38. The Harbor of Assouan. — We j ourney south- 
ward for a distance of 68 miles to reach Assouan, the 
city of the cataract, and the frontier town of Egypt. 
The Nile here looks as if it had come to a sudden 
end, and the dahabeeyah is lying in a land-locked lake 
of beautiful outline. Opposite, the rocks and cliffs 
rise from the water, piled one upon the other. These, 
like all the rocks in this neighborhood, are of a 
shining reddish-brown, for we are here in the harbor 
of the ancient town of Syrene, the native land of 
syenite, and in the very heart of the great dyke of 
granite which protrudes westward as if on purpose to 
clieck the course of the Nile. The brave river has 
succeeded in breaking through its prison of rock at 
the first cataract, of which we hear the roar in the 
distance. Assouan is surrounded by palm groves, 
which completely conceal the lower part of the town, 
but not the grey houses of the higher quarter. From 
the eastern shore of the Nile where the town stands, 
rises a bold fragment of Moorish architecture with 
arches open to the sky. In the centre of the stream is 
the island of Elephatine, brightly and refreshingly 
green with its fields, shrubs, and palm trees. 

39. First Cataract of the Nile.— We bid farewell 
to Egypt and enter Nubia through the gates of the 
first cataract, which is in -truth no cataract, but simply 
a succession of rapids. The Nile here spreads itself 
over a rocky basin bounded by sandslopes on the 
one side, and by granite cliffs on the other. The 
course of the river is broken by a vast accumulation 
of granite boulders of reddish-brown color, whose 
polished surface shine like dark mirrors. Though 



EGYPT. 513 

our picture presents a very quiet appearance, the 
water rushes in divided currents, eddying and roaring 
through the rocky chasms. 

At the time of the inundation, when all but the 
highest rocks are under water, the navigation is as 
easy here as elsewhere, but when the waters subside 
the paths are everywhere difficult and dangerous; 
and to this danger and difficulty the Sheykh of the 
Cataract and his crew owe their occupation. By the 
united efforts of many men, the use of much rope, 
and a system of double hauling the dahabeeyah 
ascends the rapids by sheer muscular force. Mean- 
while the men rock their bodies Avith a peculiar 
swaying movement, chanting a wild accompaniment, 
and making as great a show of energy as though 
they were hauling the boat up Niagara. 

40, Philse from the Cataract. — Many of the 
islands of the cataract lying between Assouan and 
Philae are most picturesque in structure and appear- 
ance. From one of these we obtain a fine view of 
Philae, that loveliest of islands. The splendid build- 
ings which stand on its soil ; the delicious verdure 
that decks its shore ; the laughing, sparkling waters 
of the river that has rescued it from the desert ; the 
crown of granite peaks and boulders which form its 
rampart on the north ; the smiling plain which turns 
its face to the south; and the glorious blue sky of this 
rainless region, never dimmed by a cloud — all, all 
unite to make this island a veritable place of enchant- 
ment. It was a true instinct that led the priests of 
Pharaonic times to dedicate this pearl of the Nile to 
the feminine divinity, Isis. 



5 1 4 EGYPT. 

Philae is now totally uninhabited, but there was a 
time when it was crowded with pilgrims and voyagers. 
The Pharoahs who were going forth to war against 
the people of the south came here to sacrifice and 
pray to the revered goddess ; and it was the goal of 
numberless pilgrims from Egypt, by whom it was 
given its name signifying "the end." 

It was the burial place of Osiris, called the " Holy 
Island;" its very soil was sacred ; none might land 
upon its shores or even approach too near, without 
permission. To obtain that permission and perform 
the pilgrimage to the tomb of the god, was to the 
Egyptian what the Mecca pilgrimage is to the pious 
Moslem of to-day. 

41. The Ruins of Pliilae. — The island was occupied 
by one principal temple dedicated to Isis, and several 
subordinate chapels which clustered round it. No- 
where has the mania of the Egyptians for irregularity 
been carried to such an extent as here. No Gothic 
architect in his wildest moments ever played so freely 
Avith lines and dimensions, and none, it must be added 
ever produced anything so beautifully picturesque as 
this. It contains all the play of light and shade, all 
the variety of Gothic art, with the grandeur of the 
Egyptian style. The island is small, and the scale of 
the buildings has been determined by the size of the 
island. Grace and proportion take the place of 
massiveness ; and the keynote of the whole is not 
magnitude, but beaut}^ The twin towers of the 
propylon, covered with sculptures nearly as perfect as 
in the days of the Ptolemies who built them, stand 
out in unbroken lines against the beautiful azure sky. 



EGYPT. 515 

As we pass through the propylon, and enter colon- 
nades, and quadrangles, and chapels in succession, 
our admiration increases, for nowhere else have we 
seen such beauty and lightness, and such exquisite 
coloring. The bas-reliefs on the walls, the intricate 
paintings on the ceilings, the colors upon the capitals, 
are all incredibly fresh and perfect. 

Among the smaller buildings, and by far the most 
famous, is that known as " Pharaoh's Bed," a pavilion 
on the eastern bank of the island, standing out in the 
pure and balmy atmosphere, a slender and airy 
structure; a most perfect union of Greek and Egyptian 
art. 

42. Ruins of the Mosque Mishchod. — Sailing 
gently southward from Philae the broad current comes 
on in one smooth, glassy sheet, unbroken by a single 
rapid. The river curves away grandly to the right, 
and vanishes behind a range of granite hills ; a simi- 
lar chain hems in the opposite bank. A few mud 
houses mark the site of a village, the greater patt of 
which lies hidden among the palms. High above 
the palm groves fringing the edge of the shore is the 
Mosque Mishchod, standing on its rocky prominence 
like a castle on the Rhine. A desolate ruin, its 
clumsy proportions are in striking contrast to the 
delicate beauty of Philae, still visible in the distance. 
Beyond the village opens a vast valley of shining 
sand, while the mountains come down to the very 
water's edge, leaving only a small strip of alluvial 
soil. 

43. Shadoof and Sakkleh.— The character of the 
country south of Philae differs very materially from 



5l6 EGYPT. 

that of Egypt. The hills coming very near the river 
frequently leave only a narrow strip of soil at the 
immediate bank on which the people depend for 
their scanty supply of food ; and we realize more and 
more how entirely the lands which we call Egypt and 
Nubia are nothing but the banks of this one solitary 
river. When the Nile is low the land must be irrigated, 
and this is done by the use of the shadoof or the 
sakkieh. 

The shadoof is worked on the lever principle. A 
little hollow is dug in the bank on a level with the 
river. Into this descends a bowl-shaped bucket, made 
of skin attached to a pole secured into an upright 
forked post. To the inland end of the post is ap- 
pended a large lump of clay. The man who is 
working the shadoof takes hold of the cord by 
which the bucket is suspended, and bending down, 
by the mere weight of his shoulders dips it into 
the water. His efforts to rise gives the bucket 
full of water an upward impulse, which with the 
aid of the cky at the other end of the pole, lifts it 
to a reservoir into which it empties its contents. If 
the bank is steep other buckets and other reservoirs 
are needed, until the water is elevated to the top 
of the bank. 

The sakkieh is a primitive machine consisting of 
two wheels, one set vertically to the river and slung 
with a chain of pots ; the other a horizontal cog, 
usually turned by a buffalo. The pots go down 
empty, dip under the water, come up full and empty 
their contents into a reservoir or into irrigating 
channels. The sakkiehs are kept perpetually going 
and creak atrociously ; their endless and melancholy 



EGYPT. 517 

noise is a delight to the native ; they creak, they howl, 
they groan, they squeal from morn till night and from 
night till morn ; hour after hour their melancholy 
chorus serves to make the night hideous, and to soothe 
the slumbers of the unfortunate traveler. 



44. Gertasse. — Still traveling southward, we are 
impressed with the startling absence of life ; mile 
after mile drags its slow length along without any 
sign of human habitation. The desert is ever present ; 
the barren mountains press upon our path ; but it is 
no wonder that life should be scarce in a district 
where the scant soil yields barely food enough for 
those who till it. 

About twenty-five miles south of Philae we reach 
the village of Gertasse, a short distance north of 
which are the remains of what was once a magnificent 
temple dedicated to the worship of Isis. Now, alas ! 
but a few columns remain to tell us of its departed 
glory. How beautiful it must have been with the 
silver Nile flowing at its foot, the luminous blue sky 
overhead, and the golden sand of the desert as a 
background we can only surmise. Of the six 
columns still standing amid a mass of fragments, four 
show the characteristic lotus capitals, while the other 
two are adorned with the head of the goddess to whom 
the temple was dedicated. 

45. Nubian Boy Riding Buffalo. — Though there 
exists no boundary line to mark where Egypt ends 
and Nubia begins, the nationality of the races dwelling 
on either side of that invisible barrier is as sharply 



5l8 EGYPT. 

defined as though an ocean divided them. At the 
cataract one comes suddenly into the midst of a 
people that apparently have nothing in common with 
the population of Egypt. They belong to a lower 
ethnological type, and they speak a language derived 
from purely African sources. To this day they are as 
distinct and inferior a people as when the Egyptian 
conquerors were wont to speak of them as "the vile 
race of Kush." As we cross the border, too, we find 
the buffalo superseding the camel for domestic pur- 
poses. Our young friend in the picture is dressed in 
the usual costume of the children of Nubia, being 
simply in puris naturalibus ; for until they are about 
twelve years of age their only article of apparel 
consists of a cap. As they run along the banks of 
the river, importuning you to buy an "anteekah " or 
screaming for backshish, they look like little live 
bronzes shining in the sun. 

The men of Nubia usually wear only the loin 
cloth ; and the complete costume of a Nubian lady 
consists merely of a girdle of long fringe, made 
of narrow strips of leather soaked in castor oil, 
the top ornamented with shells and old brass but- 
tons. 

To the Nubian the odor of castor oil is delicious, 
and he reckons it among his greatest luxuries. His 
wives saturate their wonderfully plaited tresses in it; 
his daughters perfume their fringes with it, his boys 
anoint their bodies with it, and he himself, though 
not otherwise very attentive to his toilet, does not 
fail to rejoice in his shining shoulders. Happy the 
traveler who can train his degenerate nose to delight 
in the aroma" of castor oil. 



EGYPT. 5 1 9 

46. Kirsclieh. — Still onward we move over the 
gleaming waters of the Nile until we reach the rock- 
hewn temple of Kirscheh. In many places in Nubia, 
where the mountains approach so near the edge of 
the river, the temples are excavated in the solid rock; 
sometimes, as in this case, a portico being built to the 
front. As we stand here in the great entrance to the 
temple, the collossal figures forming the facade 
cannot be seen, but from the frieze of the portico we 
can gather some idea of how rich in inscriptions 
this temple must have been. As we look before us 
words can scarcely do justice to the beauty of the 
scene. The curious mud houses on the bank of the 
river ; the foamy sea-green of the palm tufts ; the 
golden sand of the desert ; the river, shining and 
beautiful ; the pink haze of the distant mountains ; 
unite to form a prospect that is like a scene from 
fairyland. 

47. Temple and Desert, Wady Saboali. — Still 
pushing our way southward we reach Wady Saboah, 
where there is a solitary temple drowned in sand. 
This temple was erected by Rameses the Great, and 
was approached by an avenue of sphynxes and colossi, 
now shattered and buried, but originally made in the 
image of the builder. The roof is gone, the inner 
halls and the sanctuary are choked and impassable. 
Only the propylon stands clear of sand; and that, 
massive as it is, looks as if one touch of a battering 
ram would bring it to the ground. Every huge 
stone is loose, every block in the cornice seems 
tottering in its place. 

The chambers afford some curious evidences of 
having been used as a Christian church. Over the 



520 EGYPT. 

god whose image was carved in the adytum has been 
plastered a picture of St. Peter ; the other paintings 
however, have not been altered, and the result is that 
Rameses II. is now seen making offerings to a 
Christian saint. 

48. Great Temple, Aboo Simbel. — Of all the 

wonders of Nubia, the Great Temple of Aboo Simbel 
is certainly the most marvelous. The artists took a 
mountain and hollowed and carved it as though it 
Avere a cherry-stone, and left it for feebler men of 
after ages to marvel at forever. One great hall and 
fifteen spacious chambers they hewed out of the heart 
of the rock ; then smoothed the rugged precipice 
towards the river, and cut four huge statues with 
their faces to the sunrise, two to the right and two to 
the left of the doorway, there to keep watch to the 
end of time. These tremendous statues are 66 feet 
high, without the platform under their feet. They 
measure across the chest 25 feet 4 inches ; from the 
shoulder to the elbow 15 feet 6 inches, and so on in 
relative proportion ; if they stood up they would 
tower to a height of at least S3 feet. 

The face is the most perfect handed down to us by 
Egyptian art. The last Rameses to the southward is 
the best preserved. The left arm and hand are 
injured, but with a few exceptions the figure is as 
whole, as fresh in surface, as sharp in detail, as on 
the day it was completed. The second is shattered 
to the waist; his head lies at his feet half buried in 
sand. The third is nearly as perfect as the first; 
while the fourth has lost not only the whole beard, 
but has both arms broken away, and a big cavernous 
hole in the front of the body 



EGVl'T. 521 

High in a niche over the doorway, standing 20 feet 
in height, is a statue of Ra to whom the temple was 
dedicated. 

49. Interior of Great Temple. — Entering the 
Great Hall we find eight colossi, four to the right and 
four to the left, ranged down the centre, bearing the 
mountain on their heads. Their height is 25 feet 
With hands crossed on their breasts, they clasp the 
flail and crook, emblems of majesty and dominion. 
It is the attitude of Osiris, but it is the face of 
Rameses the Great. 

Beyond this first hall lies a second hall supported 
on four square pillars ; beyond this again, a transverse 
chamber; last of all the sanctuary. The total depth 
of the excavation is about 200 feet, and the effect of 
the-whole is vast, weird and mysterious. 

The objects of greatest interest are the subjects on 
the walls relating to the conquests of Rameses the 
Great ; the most stupendous historical record ever 
transmitted from the past to the present. Scenes of 
of war, of triumph, and of worship are before us. 
All is the movement and splendor of battle. The 
greatest wonder is the huge subject on the north 
wall of the Great Hall; a monster battle-piece, cover- 
ing an area of 25 feet by 57 feet, and containing over 
eleven hundred figures. 

50. Second Catai-act of the Nile. — Still onward 
we push our way along the life-giving river until we 
reach the Second or Great Cataract, which extends 
over a distance of many miles. It is I'mpassable 
except at one season of the year during the high 



522 ■ EGYPT. 

Nile. Like the .first cataract it consists of a suc- 
cession of rapids, with numerous black, shining 
rocks dividing the river into endless channels. The 
water foams, and frets, and falls; everywhere full 
of life and full of voices. 

Southward the Nile stretches away, running like a 
silver thread through the desert waste. 

This is the end of our journey. Loath are we to 
say farewell to this wonderful country and more than 
ready to verify the truth of the Oriental proverb 
which says: " Whoever has tasted the water of the 
Nile will lone for it forever." 



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